Atalanta attacker Ademola Lookman sat down with Serie A ahead of Matchday 18 to speak about his perfect debut for the club, the supporters, and manager Gian Piero Gasperini.
Serie A Debut
August 13th, Matchday 1, away to Sampdoria. Lookman had come to Bergamo from Leipzig just a few days before. In the 63′, he replaced Luis Muriel.
“I was very happy to score that goal, just happy to make my debut, to get minutes in my first game, to be able to score and help the team win was the cherry on top…”
Atalanta Supporters
After that great start, the 23-year-old, born in England but with a Nigerian passport, had to wait a whole month to find the back of the net again. Soon though he became his club’s most prolific striker thus far in the campaign – and his celebration has become one of the most popular and recognizable in Serie A.
“Our fans are amazing for 90 minutes they don’t stop singing, cheering, despite results, we may be winning or losing but they are always behind us, as a squad and as a team we feel the love they have for us and we appreciate that…”
Gian Piero Gasperini
As a striker, the main task is to score goals, but if your team goes by the name of Atalanta, you first have to settle into their playing system. It took Lookman less time than any other new Bergamaschi signing in recent years.
“Definitely, Mr. Gasperini is a very intelligent and hard-working man, everybody knows he is a very tough man also, he wants and demands the most from all of us, on the training pitch and on the match day. In that way is very clear in his understanding of how he wants us to attack and defend…”